Boris Goldgather
Boris Hohenbach, known more infamous as Boris Goldgather or Boris the Incompetent, was the Emperor during the 10th century, which saw the accession of the last and worst of the Drakwald Emperors. Devoted solely to money and its acquisition, Boris let the Elector Counts rule as they would as long as he received appropriate "gifts". New titles and offices were invented and sold, so now Elector Counts vied with each other to acquire ever more grandiose titles, such as "Grand Prince" or "Grand Duchess Palatine". A quick bribe would see a troublesome freetown's charter revoked by the Emperor, the first news of which would come when soldiers of the local noble would seize control and hang the burgomeister. Others joined the game as the cults began selling ecclesiastical offices. The Emperor himself would even sell to commoners the right to spend the night in the imperial palace, renting out the chambers of a 9th century Emperor, Jürgen the Opulent. Judgement came in 1111 IC, when plague erupted in several cities at once in the east, spreading inexorably to the west. The easternmost lands of Talabecland and Ostland, what would later become Kislev, were denuded of even animal life and had to be abandoned. The crowded towns and cities were hardest hit, and desperate authorities would set fires to burn whole neighbourhoods at the first sign of plague. Travellers even suspected of carrying the plague were hung and their corpses burned by desperate roadwardens. Prayers to the gods went unanswered, priests dying at their altars, while nobles and the wealthy abandoned the urban areas for the relative safety of their rural estates. The Emperor himself could not have cared less. Boris secluded himself at a palace miles from Carroburg and allowed only the wealthiest and most beautiful of his subjects to join him there. There, thoughts of plague and pustulated peasants were far away. They would laugh and drink and wait for the plague to finally die down. In the summer 1115 IC, there was an especially virulent eruption of plague. The Emperor, most of the Elector Counts, and their immediate families and retainers had gathered at the Carroburg palace to hold court and wait for it to die down. One hot summer evening during a ball, they instead died themselves. As the Emperor gorged himself on roast goose and the courtiers danced under the stars, none noticed the figures in ragged robes gathering upwind of them. They were the censer carriers of Clan Pestilens, and this was the beginning of the Skaven’s final assault on the Empire. The winds carried the many plagues of the Skaven throughout the palace grounds. Hundreds of the Empire's leaders died that night, buboes sprouting from their bodies and pustules bursting. As he lay dying, Boris the Incompetent listened as the Skaven leader told him of their grand plan, how armies of his kin were this night marching all over the Empire, carriers of its downfall. Source * : Warhammer Fantasy 2nd ED -- Sigmar's Heirs ** : pg. 16 Category:Drakwald Emperors Category:B Category:H